Myths Surrounding Government Jobs: Government jobs are jobs which the Union government, state governments and public sector undertakings provide. The government jobs vary from assistant grade to officer grade.
Most of the government jobs are direct recruitment based on examinations and interviews.
All government officials are paid Taxes collected from the common public, so they are accountable to the public and serve the people’s interest, so-called Public servants.
Some examples of government jobs :
| Recruitment agency | Jobs |
| Union Public Service Commission | IAS, IPS, IFS,IRS and so on |
| Staff Selection Commission | Assistant Auditor Officer, Assistant Section Officer, Inspector, Junior Statistical Officer and so on |
| Railway Recruitment Board | Various Engineering Officer posts, Assistant Loco pilots and so on |
| Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) | Probationary Officers, Special Officers and so on in various government banks across India |
| State Public Service Commission | Agriculture officer, Revenue Officer, Sub-register, Sub-divisional magistrate, Village Administrative Officer and so on |
| Other government bodies and public sector undertakings | RBI exams, NABARD exams, EPFO exams, SBI exams and so on |
| Police, Paramilitary and Armed forces recruitment | Includes various posts |
Myths and truths around the government jobs
Myth number 1: Government are 10 am to 6 pm jobs
Truth: Government jobs are not fixed-time jobs. Because government officials serve the common public, so no one cannot judge or fix the timing. Higher officials like IAS, IPS, RO, SI, and others will work more than 12 hours daily because they are responsible for all the happenings in their districts. So they cannot work in fixed timings.
For example:
If an accident occurs at midnight 12 o clock, the government officials like police and administrative officers should appear at the spot and help the people. They should be ready to serve the people at any time.
To make them available anytime, the government is providing Government quarters, assistants and so on. So they need not get tension about their family chores.
Myth number 2: Government jobs are powerful
Truth: The administrative setup of India is a bureaucratic form of government. All administrative posts are filled by the competent person the government selects.
So the government officials will have the power to do their job only, not as shown in some cinemas.
India is a democratic and republican country ruled by the representatives of people elected by the people. So elected representatives will only have the ultimate power, not the selected bureaucrats.
Bureaucrats will help run the government’s administrative machinery and do not have any power over the machinery.
Myth number 3: Government jobs are high paid
Truth: Initial salaries in government jobs are fair compared to other private jobs.
For instance, the initial salary of a Village Administrative Officer in Tamilnadu is about 30000 per month, but the qualification of VAO is only 10th standard.
But the salary after 10 years is low compared to private jobs because the salary in government jobs is fixed and does not change.
Government jobs require more than 12 years for promotions.
In the case of private jobs, people can shift from one company to another and ask for a high payment, promotions are very frequent, and they can do part-time jobs and others to increase their earnings.
These are not possible in the case of government jobs. So government jobs are mostly less paid jobs when compared with private jobs.
Myth number 4: Government jobs do not have any target
Truth: Some government jobs also have targets like private jobs. To increase the productivity of the employee and to ensure maximum benefits to the public, some government jobs also have targets. Even though they are not more intense than private jobs but government jobs also have targets
For instance
Agriculture officers under state services have targets like
- to increase the area of production by a certain percentage per year
- To increase the productivity
- To cover a certain number of beneficiaries per year per scheme
- To supply a certain quantity of inputs to farmers
The government has introduced numerical targets for government employees to maximise the benefits to the people.
Myth number 5: Government jobs have less work
Truth: This is the common myth across India that government employees work less than private jobs. But the reality is entirely different. Most government jobs have very high work pressure.
This is because of the nature of the work. Government servants have to work for the people all the time. Because of India’s large population size and high illiteracy rate, government jobs have more work tension than other jobs.
Political pressure also increases work pressure.
Most government jobs are groundwork, so they meet various sections of people and will face many difficulties in serving the people.
For instance,
All police officers are 24*7 on duty. Lower-level staff usually do a 12-hour shift, while officers can be called anytime if anything comes up. DM or SP have average working hours of more than 12 hours each day as the workload is huge. There is no Saturday or Sunday in the district posting. People call even at midnight, sharing their problems.
There is a huge workload in government jobs. This misconception about it being lazy work is not true at all. Of course, some departments have become redundant, and there is little work. But for most of the jobs, it needs to be corrected.
Myth number 6: Recruitment is increasing
Truth: The recruitment for various posts has remained the same in recent years. After COVID, the government faces a huge financial crisis, so most of the government hesitates to recruit more employees because this will increase the government’s financial burden.
For instance
More than 5 lakh posts in the Tamilnadu government are vacant, but the government recruits fewer people.
Many state government recruiting agencies need to be more cautious.
For instance,
TNPSC takes more than 2 years to complete the preliminary and written exam. Almost every person has to spend three years entering into service because of the irresponsibility of the TNPSC.
Recently, TNPSC issued hall tickets for an exam just one day before the exam.
This is a perfect example of how the state recruiting agency needs to be more relaxed about recruitment.
UPSC also only recruits employees for partially the proposed vacancy.
This puts the aspirant’s life at risk.
Myth number 7: No weekend work
Truth: Private jobs nowadays provide a weekend off. But still trying to figure out government jobs. Many officers and elected representatives in the government used to schedule their meetings at 8 pm on Friday, 9 am on Saturday and even 4 pm on Sunday.
Many district administrators will work on Saturday and Sunday too. Because government officials serve the common public, so no one cannot judge or fix the timing. Higher officials like IAS, IPS, RO, SI, and others will work more than 12 hours daily because they are responsible for all the happenings in their districts. So they cannot work in fixed timings.
Conclusion
To conclude,
Many government employees play a major role in constructing India.
Like BR. Ambedkar, T.N.Seshan and many other government employees have greatly contributed to India.
In recent years, the political pressure, poor government salary, more competition, bribes, and lethargy of government depleted the value of government jobs.